Wireless sensor devices are used in a variety of applications including the health monitoring of users. In many of these health monitoring applications, a wireless sensor device is attached directly to the user's skin to measure certain data. This measured data can then be utilized for a variety of health related applications. In one instance, this measured data can be utilized to assist in detecting when a user has fallen due to a health related disease or external factor and is injured as a result.
Conventional approaches have detected when a user has fallen by measuring acceleration data related to the fall and comparing that data to various thresholds. However, these conventional approaches fail to discriminate problematic falls from activities of daily living, such as falling onto a couch to take a nap, and require that the wireless sensor device be attached to the user in specific orientations.
These issues limit the fall detection capabilities of wireless sensor devices. Therefore, there is a strong need for a cost-effective solution that overcomes the above issues by creating a method and system for a more accurate fall detection of a user without having to attach the wireless sensor device to the user in a specific and known orientation. The present invention addresses such a need.